Another gradual descent into impunity By Bolaji Tunji

Happenings in recent time have shown that Nigerians are people with short memory.  Things that we should take note of and allow to guide us are quickly forgotten. Thus depriving us the opportunity of learning from our past. This amnesia happens at the individual and national level. But by far the most worrisome is the institutional loss of memory.  With institutional memory loss,  what should serve as a prop or guide for future behaviour is no longer available.  Recent developments have shown that our country is regressing into a past that is best forgotten.

A past where impunity was the order.  When the rule of law was only in name but not in deeds. A past of gestapo-like behaviour which no longer has a place in modern democracy.  It is over 16 years that Nigeria returned to democracy, but the vestige of military rule especially the impunity and self help which characterized  the turbulent (Sani) Abacha era is returning, when those in jackboots belief they can do and get away with anything because they hold the reins of governance.

Unfortunately,  it is only the discerning that are aware of current shenanigans.  Law enforcement agents are  taking the law into their hands believing that nobody would call them to account.

Last week, a student of the Lagos State Polytechnic was arrested by policemen attached to Owutu Police Station in Ikorodu area of Lagos. He was just alighting from a tricycle when the police swooped on the motor park and arrested him alongside 30 other people. But what made the situation quite interesting was the aftermath of his ‘arrest’. When he got to the police station and he wanted to know why he was arrested, nobody could tell him. He was only told to remove his clothes and drop his belongings in preparation for detention. Of course, he insisted on knowing his offence.

“I told them I would not undress until I knew why I was arrested. I asked them to allow me make my statements and call my people. Three of them walked up to me and slapped me several times. One of them said, ‘You think you know the law, you will sleep in the cell tonight’.

His inquiry to know his offence was a normal one that any educated, right thinking person would have asked. And it was within his right to ask. To the policemen, he had overreached himself. Because of his stubbornness, he spent the night in the cell and when he was to be ‘bailed’ the following day, he was compelled to pay N30,000, while others arrested with him only paid between N5,000 to N10,000. He paid more because the police said he was stubborn. This event happened about two weeks ago, I am not sure the police authority had done anything to investigate the incident and mete out appropriate punishment. To a few bad eggs in the police, trampling on the rights of citizens is all in a day’s work.

That same week, some officers of the Nigerian Customs Service attached to the Federal Operations unit, Ikeja, Lagos beat up a Lagos State Magistrate attached to the Lagos State Taskforce on Environmental and Special Offences unit. The Taskforce, on the order of the magistrate, had impounded their vehicles where it was parked in a no parking zone. The magistrate’s stand was that no public official should be above the law. But he learnt in a hard way that some people have the notion that they are untouchable.

Now the funny part. The Public Relations Officer of the unit while reacting to the incident was quoted to have said the following.“There was an unfortunate incident between some of our operatives and the security men attached to the Lagos State Mobile Court. The security men came for an operation around our vicinity.  We were accused of slapping a magistrate. I am not confirming or debunking that, but in that situation,THE MAGISTRATE DID NOT WEAR UNIFORM, SO NO ONE COULD IDENTIFY HIM. (Emphasis mine)

That statement goes to show the mindset of security operatives in uniform. They have scant respect for civilians. And those civilians they even respect or treat with care are those who have the clout and the influence that could cause problem for them. The only set of people exempted from their self help and high handedness are fellow operatives in uniform. It was just unfortunate for the  magistrate that he was not wearing a ‘uniform’ on that day.
Another incident that equally showed the inhuman nature of the law enforcement agencies and the gradual descent into impunity was the killing of pro-Biafra demonstrators in Onitsha late last month. A report, quoting a whistleblower, described the deliberate and excessive use of force employed by the Nigerian Army against the protesters. A law enforcement operative, the whistle blower who said his conscience was pricked by the brutal manner that some of  the protesters were killed said a few injured taken from the hospital were dumped into detention without a care for their well-being. An eyewitness described one of the scenes thus:

“I live at Nkpor-Agu. The greatest shock of my live was witnessing the killing of three young men returning from early-morning mass in front of the street leading to St Edmunds Catholic Church, Nkpor-Agu. I was arrested and thrown inside a military truck. I think the three young men panicked when they saw the soldiers waving their guns and barking. They attempted to run and right before my very eyes (sic), the soldiers fired at them one after the other. They picked up their corpses and threw them like logs of wood into the same truck I was sitting inside”.

Till date, the military has not refuted the report, I have equally not heard that the issue is being investigated. There are so many instances of such inhuman treatment of Nigerians by the law enforcement agents. This brazen attitude is growing and nobody is saying anything because some of these incidents are far removed from us. We only get to hear or read about some of these things, and we keep quiet, believing it does not concern us. But we are all involved.
The law enforcement agents should understand that they are subordinate to the civilian authority. The government  should equally make it clear that it would not condone impunity as presently being experienced. A few examples should be made of those who contravene laid down procedures or rules of engagement.  It is only when this is done that a strong signal would go out that government would not condone impunity.